Georgia Tech men’s basketball defeats Vanderbilt, 65-60

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

Outscoring its opponent 40-27 in the second half, the Georgia Tech men’s basketball team emerged with an 65-60 home win over Vanderbilt at the McCamish Pavillion on Saturday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets improved to 8-2 on the season while the Commodores drop to 7-3.

Charles Mitchell had a game-high 19 points for Georgia Tech and eight rebounds. Demarco Cox’s nine rebounds were a game-high, three of which came on the offensive end. 20 of the Yellow Jackets’ 39 rebounds were on offense. Vanderbilt only had 30 rebounds in total.

Marcus Georges-Hunt had 14 points for Georgia Tech as well.

Damian Jones and Josh Henderson each had a team-high 12 points for Vanderbilt. Jones also had a team-high seven rebounds in the loss.

Georgia Tech shot 46.7 percent from the field while Vanderbilt was at 38.8 percent.

Both teams struggled from the three-point line with the Yellow Jackets only making four of 22 attempts and the Commodores converting only three of 15.

Trailing 33-25, Georgia Tech retook the lead a t41-39 with 12:30 left in the contest on a layup by Georges-Hunt. Vandy responded on its next possession, tying the score at 41-41 on a Jeff Roberson layup.

Both teams continued to trade baskets throughout the rest of the half and the score was tied at 53-53 with 3:44 to go.

Travis Jorgenson hit a jumper for Georgia Tech to give the Yellow Jackets the 55-53 lead. He stole the ball on Vandy’s next possession, passing the ball to Robert Sampson for a dunk, making the score 57-53 in favor of Tech with 2:18 left in the contest.

The Yellow Jackets extended their lead to 62-56 with 1:15 to go. Vandy mounted a late comeback and a converted free throw by Wade Baldwin IV along with a three-point play on a layup by James Siakam cut the lead to 62-60 w/ one minute left.

Converted free throws by Georges-Hunt and Tadric Jackson of Georgia Tech sealed the victory.

Vanderbilt ended the first half on a 15-7 run to take a 33-25 lead at halftime. Henderson had a game-high 10 first-half points for the Commodores while Riley Lachance had eight. Vandy shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first half.

Georgia Tech struggled from the field in the first half, shooting only 27.8 percent from the field and making only two out of 12 three-pointer attempts. Georges-Hunt scored a game-high 10 points for the Yellow Jackets while Cox grabbed a game-high seven first-half rebounds.